Tense "Deepwater Horizon" stays afloat despite its flaws - East Idaho News
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Tense “Deepwater Horizon” stays afloat despite its flaws

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I felt a mixture of emotions walking out of “Deepwater Horizon.” I was angry about the idea that corporate bigwigs are willing to risk disaster for profits. I was mournful about the loss of life resulting from that greed. But mostly, I felt tired. I felt tired because, for the previous 107 minutes, I was put through a ringer of intense, fiery fury. And that’s evidence of some pretty good filmmaking right there.

“Deepwater Horizon” is based on the true events that led to the worst oil spill in American history. The story focuses on head electrician Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg), arriving at the floating oil platform in time to find that a crew of slimy executives led by Vidrine (John Malkovich) have decided to start the rig without an important safety test.

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Mark Wahlberg stars as Mike Williams in “Deepwater Horizon.” | Enrique Chediak, Lionsgate

When the corporate scumbags get their way, Williams, rig supervisor Mr. Jimmy (Kurt Russell), and other workers brace for the worst. The rest of the movie is an explosion-fest, filled with flying shrapnel and showers of sparks while our heroes fight for their lives.

And man, is that fight INTENSE. Williams picks his way through hellish landscape of twisted metal, rescuing his fellow workers. Death hangs over the heads of our heroes at every turn. The tension comes from knowing Williams, Mr. Jimmy and the rest of the crew are trapped on a crumbling oil rig in the middle of the ocean. And it works like chocolate on cinnamon bears — unless you don’t like chocolate-covered cinnamon bears. Then it works like something else.

Movies like this one rely on creating charismatic characters that we care about, so that we feel the drama when they face conflicts. “Deepwater” gives us a couple great characters in Williams and Mr. Jimmy. Wahlberg has come a long way since the days when he was a underwear-modeling wannabe hip-hopper. He’s now one of the most reliable and versatile actors in Hollywood, and you completely buy him as a capable blue-collar worker. Russell is gruff as Mr. Jimmy, but his care for his workers and his rigs comes through. That’s a credit to Russell’s performance.

Gina Rodriguez is also pretty solid as Andrea, one of the station’s operators. And Malkovich is perfect as the slimy corporate shill Vidrine. Malkovich does slimy and morally compromised better than anyone in Hollywood. I was also happy to see Brad Leland. I really enjoyed hating him on “Friday Night Lights”.

Unfortunately, the filmmakers missed a couple opportunities to add depth to some characters. I especially wanted to see more about Ethan Suplee’s character. There are a couple of B-level characters who get stuck with stereotypes instead of personalities. The movie had a pretty compact running time, and a few more scenes that deepen some of the characters would have increased our ties to those characters, and they would have become more than exploding oil rig fodder.

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Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell, left) and Jason Anderson (Ethan Suplee) in “Deepwater Horizon.” | David Lee, Lionsgate

I need to bring up a couple of other flaws. For one thing, the ending seemed extremely abrupt. I would’ve liked to see another scene or two of Williams trying to adjust to his life after the explosion. I would’ve loved to see Williams and Mr. Jimmy reconnect. And the score is the perfect example of modern movie music, meaning it’s dull, drab and unremarkable.

But by far the biggest problem is the nonstop shaky camera work that dominates the last third or so of the movie. A shaky cam can help create tension by disorienting the audience, and director Peter Berg and the filmmakers definitely keep the audience off-balance. But too many times, the camera work in “Deepwater” is to disorienting and fails to tell you who your looking at or what’s going on. That’s a problem when you’re trying to tell an effective story.

That said, these flaws aren’t fatal. “Deepwater Rising” is tense, gripping and will keep you on the edge of your seat. The writing is solid for the most part and the acting is sturdy. Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell are a team-up I’d love to see on screen again soon.

If you go, make sure you stay to see the tribute to the workers who fell when the rig blew up.

3 ½ Indy Fedoras out of 5

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Thanks to Fat Cats in Rexburg for providing screenings for movie reviews on EastIdahoNews.com.

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